At the opening of his trial at the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday, Yasunobu Ikeda, who has been accused of murder-robbery, admitted to abandoning the corpse of 88-year-old Tokiko Abe in a lake in Himonya Park after killing her.

However, he denied robbing her of 350,000 yen in cash as claimed by the prosecution. “After quitting your job, you turned to robbery to cover living expenses,” the prosecution said.

“I carved her up with a knife”

According to the indictment, the defendant entered Abe’s residence, located about 500 meters away from the crime scene in the Nozawa area of Setagaya Ward, on June 20. He then strangled her to death before dismembering her corpse with a knife. The body was then dumped in the lake the following day.

Ikeda’s claim regarding robbery contradicts what he said at the time of his arrest. During questioning by police, Ikeda said that his motivation in carrying out the crime was money. “Abe was lying there and I killed her,” he said. “I carved her up with a knife in the bathroom.”